Tag: Festus Keyamo

Verbal Attack: Keyamo, Momodu in war of words over 2023 elections

Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo and the Ovation Magazine Publisher, Dele Momodu are engaged in a verbal war ahead of the 2023 presidential election in the country.

Festus Keyamo is the spokesperson of the Bola Tinubu-Kashim Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) while Momodu holds the same position in the PDP campaign team.

Keyamo had earlier said Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Dele Momodu was only after Atiku Abubakar’s money.

Momodu replied saying Keyamo had belittled himself by taking a junior ministerial position in a bedeviled ministry enmeshed in so much confusion.

”You and I never interacted much other than on occasions when you needed free publicity as always and would do anything for attention. There was the occasion when you had a controversial battle with your date and I called to appeal to you to do the needful. I also called on you at your office to congratulate you on the attainment of your Senior Advocate of Nigeria status. On all occasions, you accorded me the respect that I earned and deserve.

”You will recall that you practically photobombed yourself into our picture the day I walked into Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s apartment in London because it was an opportunity for you to trend. You’re a media creation and we supplied you the oxygen regularly.

”Let me note that unlike you, I was not desperate for any appointment and so did not join APC when I humbly supported Buhari. There was never a time I discussed APC with you, when I had direct access to your Bosses. I discovered the rudderlessness of APC government early enough and promptly, and publicly, apologized to Nigerians for my past support”.

I noticed your rapid deterioration since you took on this job of Junior Minister in a Ministry bedevilled with so much confusion. You need urgent deliverance from your present giddiness and I would gladly oblige you the services of an exorcist…

Replying, Keyamo called the publisher a miserable fellow that overrated himself but crashed like a wingless bird from a futile presidential ambition.

The minister said Momodu and ended up as an hyperactive hireling and attack-dog of perhaps the worst serial loser in Nigeria’s electoral history.

Keyamo noted that his opponent’s only CV to make an attempt at the presidency is no more than mere photo ops with celebrities and the high-and-mighty in society.

“This is the sad story of a hopeless clown in his sixties, desperately looking to pick whatever pieces are left of his life by shamelessly worming his way into the pockets of Atiku Abubabar.”

The APC chieftain said Momodu made himself available to execute dirty jobs against his long-standing benefactor, Bola Tinubu.

Keyamo said Momodu was quick to don the toga of “freedom fighter” on behalf of ex-Lagos governor Akinwunmi Ambode for not getting a second term ticket in APC in 2018.

The Senior Advocate noted that despite serving as a “PR consultant” to Ambode, Momodu came out to praise Tinubu on October 26, 2019 in his column.

Keyamo said Momodu operates from the lowest rung of moral debauchery, adding that the PDP official is a man who provides his next meal ticket.

“Atiku is the latest victim of this con man. If by God’s grace Asiwaju wins the presidency next year, expect Mr. Momodu to do another somersault by shamelessly composing another Oriki (praise)”, the statement added.

October 27, 2022
Why there is delay in take-off of APC campaign – Keyamo

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) says it is delaying the take-off its Presidential Campaign for 2023 poll, to ensure that all necessary ingredients associated with such campaigns are captured.

Mr Festus Keyamo, the spokesperson for the Presidential Campaign Council said this when he spoke with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, after a meeting of the PCC, the APC National Working Committee (NWC), and the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF).

“Part of the structure of our campaign involves a presidential diary, our campaign is not like those who have done kick and start with their small vehicles. Our campaign is like monouvering a 50 tonne trailer into the highway and once we hit the road, we hit the road.

“So that is what we are doing,the president is the chairman of the campaign council, we are going to take his diary into consideration in picking and choosing the day. But, we have virtually agreed that we are going to hit the streets very soon, we have agreed on the region we are going to begin from and on all other basic issues,” he said.

Keyamo said that the APC PCC wanted to carry the president along as the leader of the party. He said that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate presented a draft copy of his manifesto to stakeholders at the meeting.

“Our candidate is not one that operates on his own, he tries to carry everybody along and today, he presented the draft copy of his manifesto to all the party’s stakeholders and it was accepted by nearly everyone,” he said.

Keyamo said that Tinubu would present the manifesto to Nigerians at a later date.
He said the meeting set up a small committee to reduce the highlights of the manifestoes as presented by Tinubu.

This, he said, was to make it more sellable and understandable in the most simple language to the electorate including market women and street traders.

October 12, 2022
[TRENDING] 2023: Sweeper at Tinubu/Shettima Kogi rally bags award(photos)

Apparently peeved by the manner netizens reacted to a video clip he posted on Kogi rally for Tinubu/Shettima, spokesman of APC presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, SAN has posted fresh photos to debunk allegations the clip was an old one.

Recall, Keyamo had posted the rally in Kogi and netizens went to town to tag it a 2019 rally.

TheNewsGuru.com,(TNG) reports that in one of the photos, a lady who was seen sweeping at the event was visited by APC Senatorial candidate in Okene presenting a plaque to the lady.

Keyamo also posted the banner of the one million man march bearing photos of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu and Shettima circled for easy recognition.

He said “yesterday I tweeted a video of a massive rally in Kogi for @officialABAT, frightened by the crowd, these neophytes said it’s an old of 2019. Now we bring you a still frame the banner bearing the image of @officialABAT. Una don see am? This was only in Okene yesterday!

See tweets below:

October 4, 2022
Nigerians slam Keyamo, APC for publishing fake video of Tinubu rally

Nigerian netizens have sharply criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for publishing a 2019 campaign rally video, which they passed off as recent.

The Labour Party (LP) has held several rallies across several states in the country. The most recent ones were staged simultaneously on Saturday 1st October, riding on the back of the 62nd anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence, and drew thousands of supporters in Akwa-Ibom, Bauchi, Edo, Ebonyi, Kaduna and Lagos states.

In a seeming show of popularity bragging rights, the Spokesperson for the APC Fetus Keyamo published a rally video at 9:55pm on Sunday via his verified Twitter account @fKeyamo, which he claimed was held in the Kogi State in support of his party’s presidential flagbearers Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima.

Along with the video which showed a large crowd, he posted: “We showed them how to do a proper march today in just one town in Kogi; no borrowed crowd; everyone here has a PVC (go and verify ??). This is organised by proper ‘structures’, not ‘keypad activists’! Gradually, we shall separate the boys from the men!”

Nigerians took him up on his challenge and subjected the video to scrutiny. The result showed that the purported rally campaign video was recorded in 2019 and the prominent banner pictured the Governor of Kogi state Yahaya Bello, in the middle flanked by two men.

Nigerians on Twitter have called him out for his deceit. Daniel Regha wrote: Festus, the fact that you cannot campaign for Tinubu without mentioning Peter Obi shows u are frightened; you mention the Labour Party & other presidential candidates more than you advertise Tinubu. You are obviously hustling for your pay but hope you are ready for the repercussions”.

Another Twitter user victor mark-onyegbu commented on the video: “From forcing your godfather to ride a bicycle to posting a fake rally video, it’s been from one PR disaster to another. A healthy man doesn’t need to prove anything. The pressure is clearly making you all act so desperate and it shows”.

A resident of Kogi Richard Adugho said it was sad that while the people of the state were distressed by the floods that have claimed at least three lives and sacked many communities, particularly in Ibaji Local Government Area of the state, the party spokesman insensitively published the fake video.

Nigeria is battling what experts say could be the worst floods in the last decade with more than 300 people killed in 2022, spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency Manzo Ezekiel disclosed last month.

According to authorities, the floods which have affected 27 out of Nigeria’s 36 states and capital city have affected half a million people, displaced more than 100,000 persons and washed away thousands of hectares of farmland.

Meanwhile, in response to the backlash he received, Keyamo on Monday retweeted another video published by The Nation and wrote: “These are women who are appreciative of the efforts of @officialABAT over the last 23 years to see to the rapid development of Lagos. They’re not guided or blinded by tribal sentiments. They will speak and do so loudly in 2023. The neophytes think they can teach us how to march!”

October 3, 2022
APC’s Keyamo, PDP’s Omokri accuse Peter Obi of messing up Nigeria’s politics

The Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN) and former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, have accused the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, of disrupting the political space in the country.

Omokri, a staunch supporter of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, stated this late Saturday in reaction to the rallies held across the country by the supporters of Obi for the 2023 presidential election.

Describing the rallies as great achievements, he noted that the Obidient movement should not be disregarded by anyone who was politically conscious.

“The Obidient rallies at Festac and Amuwo were amazing. They are great achievements. Anyone who tries to belittle them is not politically astute. While Obi will not win in 2023, he has successfully disrupted politics in Nigeria. Well done Obi! Well done Obidients!”, he tweeted.

TheNewsGuru.com reported that the Obidents rallied at Lekki in Lagos, and other parts of the country on Saturday, October 1.

However, in an earlier tweet, Omokri had said that the rallies were just a show of force by southeastern traders who closed down their shops.

“These so called ‘one million man marches’ are mostly a gathering of traders in various Nigerian towns and cities, who close down their markets (that are heavily dominated by people of southeastern origin), to do what in the military is called a show of force,” he tweeted.

The Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has also reacted to the rallies by the Obidients on Saturday.

Mocking the supporters of Obi, Keyamo said the rallying Obidients were not more than a thousand people who were not more than the electorate needed at two polling units.

“The aerial shots are the best. Now, look at this: at best the ‘crowd’ here is not more than a thousand people which is approximately just two polling units,” he quote-tweeted a video from one of the rallies.

October 2, 2022
What brought Buhari into power still there, will deliver APC in 2023 – Keyamo

Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo has said what brought President Muhammadu Buhari into power in 2015 and 2019 still there na that the same will deliver APC in 2023.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, disclosed this on Sunday while expressing optimism that Nigerians would vote for the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 elections.

The Minister, who criticized the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi over his reliance on statistics, stressed that Nigerians would vote for Tinubu in 2023 based on his track record of excellence.

Recall Obi’s campaign has focused on the APC’s poor management of the country’s resources in the last seven years. He relied on statistics to convince Nigerians of the failure of APC in the area of economy, education and other sectors since assuming power in 2015.

However, speaking on Channels TV Programme, Sunday Politics Keyamo played down the Labour Party candidate’s chances in the 2023 elections. The Minister of State for Labour and Employment insisted that only statistics would not guarantee Obi’s victory in 2023.

“We will tell Nigerians in 2023 the reason they must vote for someone with the track record of good performance above someone with the track record of statistics. The structure that brought Buhari into power in 2015 and 2019 is still there. The same structure will deliver the APC when we get to the battlefield,” Keyamo said.

The minister also spoke on the omission of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal and former Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, from the APC presidential campaign council. He said the party was concerned about the structure relevant to its constitution, not individual opinions.

September 26, 2022
Atiku, Kwankwaso’ll fail popularity test in North – Keyamo

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has said both presidential candidates of the PDP and the NNPP, Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso, will fail the popularity test against the APC’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the North ahead of the 2023 elections.

Keyamo stated this while speaking to journalists on Sunday in Abuja.

The Minister, who is also a spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, was optimistic his principal would secure bloc votes to win the election.

He said, “I am optimistic that the structures that worked to get us those bloc votes are still with us.”

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also said both Atiku and Kwankwaso cannot have the kind of acceptability that Buhari enjoys.

“Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso do not have the popularity, acceptability, street credibility and the kind of integrity that Buhari has that made him a rave in the North,” he said.

In the same vein, the deputy spokesperson of APC Campaign Organisation, Hannatu Musawa, expressed optimism that the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, would benefit immensely from the bloc votes of the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s poll.

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Musawa believed the party’s standard-bearer stands a good chance in the election.

“The bloc votes will work to our advantage. This is because the election will happen before President Buhari leaves. Whatever the case may be, even though he is going to leave next year, it is not going to happen till after the election,” she said.

Reacting to the Keyamo’s statement, Atiku’s media adviser, Paul Ibe, said if Tinubu hopes to ride on the bloc votes of Buhari, he must equally be prepared to share in the failures of his government in the last seven years.

September 19, 2022
2023: APC, LP media firing squads engage in verbal warfare

…place Keyamo, APC members on security watch list – Arabambi

…place Obi, his demented supporters on terror watch list – Keyamo

The media firing squads of APC and Labour Party engagement in connotative warfare may soon snowball into a full scale war as both parties are at each other’s throats.

TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports the Spokesperson of the APC and Minister of State, Labour and Productivity was the first to fire the first salvo when he alleged that LP presidential candidate may soon fake an assassination attempt.

This did not go down well with the Labour Party that immediately via a statement countered Keyamo begging security chiefs to place him and other members of the APC campaign Council on a security watch list.

Keyamo, an activist that’s ever resilient fired back via a counter statement declaring that LP presidential candidate and his demented supporters should all be placed on terror watch list.

The Publicity Secretary of LP Abayomi Arabambi stated in his response to Keyamo’s comments that:

“President Muhammadu Buhari must now as a matter of urgency directs the service chiefs to place Festus Keyamo and other APC presidential Campaign members and supporters on a security watch list as they are now a threat to democracy ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“I called on the Inspector General of Police to urgently commence a comprehensive investigation into Mr Festus Keyamo unlawful and treasonable activities.

” His conducts are likely to cause breach of peace and anarchy in our country if this ugly trend is not nipped in the bud and Keyamo be made to face possible prosecution in the court of Law.

Keyamo’s Response:

“I also call on the Security Agencies in Nigeria to place Mr. Peter Obi and some of his demented supporters on the terror watch lists for circulating an incendiary video with a fake message by one of his supporters called Powell Glad Legbe (on his Facebook page) calling on Yorubas not to vote for Peter Obi.

“Mr. Peter Obi then wrongly and wickedly attributed that quote to an amorphous ‘Tinubu group’. Up till now he has not withdrawn his accusation nor has he apologised to our candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“It is obvious Mr. Peter Obi wants to cause religious and tribal crises in the country and for this I call on the security agencies to place Mr. Peter Obi on security watch or invite him for thorough investigation. If necessary, I am prepared to be invited too as a witness to prove my case against him.

September 14, 2022
2023: Omo-Agege, Keyamo threaten PDP with quit notice in Delta

Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege on Sunday called for unity among members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta to kick out the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) administration in the state in 2023.

The call was made in a statement in Abuja, by Mr Ima Niboro, Director, Communications and Media Strategy, Delta APC Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation.

According to the statement, Omo-Agege spoke at a meeting of Delta Central APC Leaders and Stakeholders in Effurun, Delta.

Omo-Agege, who doubles as the governorship candidate of APC in the state, stressed the need for unity for the party to clinch power in 2023.

He lamented that the state had been under bondage of underdevelopment since 1999, declaring that 2023 was a year of liberation.

Omo-Agege said he was motivated by a desire to arrest receding hope among Deltans and build a state where the people’s future would be brighter than their past.

He said that fairness demanded that power returned to the South in 2023 since President Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner, was about completing eight years in office.

“We need to be united to be able to confront the PDP. These are people who keep repeating the same thing and expect a different outcome.

“We are going to change the narrative in Delta. We are going to stand by Bola Tinubu for President. Selling him won’t be a difficult task. We saw what he did in Lagos,” he said.

Also, convener of the meeting and Spokesperson, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo SAN, accused the PDP government of running “a clueless and shortsighted administration”.

Keyamo said that the agenda of the PDP government in the state was to impoverish the people and make life difficult for them.

He said that: “the jacket of disunity is already in PDP. We will rescue the people from hunger and bondage”.

On his part, elder statesman Frank Kokori expressed delight that the state was having a ‘real Urhobo man’ vying for the position of the governor in 2023.

September 5, 2022
Tinubu stopped PDP from turning Nigeria into a one-party state – Keyamo

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, (SAN) has eulogized Tinubu, saying that he stopped the Peoples Democratic Party from turning Nigeria into a one-party state.

Keyamo posited that Tinubu’s vision and forthrightness put stop to the PDP’s plan to turn the country into a one-party state.

The senior lawyer made this disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday

He recalled that the PDP “wiped out” all the States in the South and Northern parts of Nigeria, except Lagos State which was under Tinubu’s leadership in 2003.

According to Keyamo, Tinubu’s insistence made Nigeria a multiparty democracy.

He said: “Without Tinubu, we will not have a multiparty democracy today. That’s the truth! He has earned it.

“If you are wise enough, 2003 was a turning point in Nigeria’s democracy. The PDP wiped out all the people and States in both the South and the North.”

Keyamo said when PDP failed to infiltrate Lagos State, they approached Tinubu to join the party.

Keyamo said “they came to him and said, ‘Oya, Asiwaju come to PDP so that you won’t have problems in 2007.

“It takes a strength of character and conviction to say ‘No, I won’t join the ruling party.’”

The minister stressed that Tinubu’s insistence brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015.

“From Lagos, he started to fight back before he stretched his hands over the Niger, and today, we have General Buhari in power.

“That is why we have a multiparty democracy today. If not, this country would have ended up as a one-party State,” he said.

August 24, 2022